Qualcomm's new 4100+ smartwatch processor is all about saving battery life

Qualcomm's new chip promises to shake things up with improved efficiency. — Robert Günther/dpa

Chip manufacturer Qualcomm is once again injecting some excitement into the smartwatch segment with a new processor promising to be significantly more efficient and faster than its predecessor.

The new Wear 4100+ processor is a quad-core chip like its Wear 3100 predecessor, but the older 1.1-GHz Cortex-A7 cores are now being switched out for significantly faster and less power-hungry 1.7-GHz Cortex-A53 cores.